Stock Market News

US open: Stocks gain as US jobless claims fall more than forecast

US stocks jumped as weekly jobless claims fell more than expected and analysts awaited a report on new home sales.

Initial jobless claims dropped by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 284,000 in the week ended July 19th, according to the Labor Department on Thursday. It followed 302,000 claims the previous week and beat analysts' expectations for 310,000 claims.

"Looking ahead to the July employment report, scheduled to be released on Friday, August 1st, we look for headline and private non-farm payrolls to rise by 225,000 on the month," Barclays Research said.

"This would be consistent with the 231,000 average increase in payrolls in the first six months of this year. Government payrolls have been more stable in recent quarters and we look for no change in July. Given this pace of payroll growth, we look for the unemployment rate to fall by one-tenth to 6%. We also expect average hourly earnings to rise by 0.2% and for average weekly hours to hold steady at 34.5."

In another boost to markets, HSBC/Markit's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for manufacturing in China climbed to 52 in July from 50.7 a month earlier, smashing estimates for a reading of 51 and exceeding the 50 level that signals expansion.

Markit separately released its PMI for US manufacturing, which fell to 56.3 in July from 57.3 in June, signalling the slowest improvement in overall manufacturing business conditions for three months.

Meanwhile, markets are also awaiting a report on new home sales, which is expected to show a 5.8% drop in June, compared to a 18.6% rise a month earlier.

Facebook, Ford

Facebook surged after second quarter sales and profits beat analysts' forecasts comfortably. "We had a good second quarter," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and Chief Executive.

Ford rallied as it also impressed with its second-quarter profits, helped by a record performance in North America and an improvement in Europe.

Stock News is provided by Digital Look Corporate Solutions from Sharecast news.
Please read the terms and conditions of useage of this data. Republication or redistribution of content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Digital Look Ltd.

Get a free widget for your website with our latest headlines.

You can now add our live prices and new headlines to your website.The news widget features quotes for Oil prices, spot Gold price and Indices plus a choice of news channel for healines.